The Role Of The Handmaid
"The Role Of The Handmaid" is a mini-story that is part of the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series. The Story It is some years after Empath and Smurfette got married, when they were desperately trying to have their first child, that they were both reading from their wedding copy of Tapper's holy book and were fascinated by what they were reading in the book of Genesis. They decided that they would talk to Tapper about what they have read that captured their attention. "Tapper, me and Smurfette were wondering about Abraham and Jacob and what they were smurfing with their wives' handmaids, in order to smurf a child through them," Empath said as they sat at a table together while Tapper was taking a break from serving drinks. "Ah, yes, the handmaids," Tapper said. "If you've been smurfing through the Scriptures, you should know that their wives were at various smurfs in their lives unable to smurf children with their husbands, because God has left them unable to conceive." "But why would they smurf this?" Smurfette asked. "Isn't that what the Almighty would call adultery between a married person and an unmarried person?" "Technically it is, my dear Smurfette, but that's not how it was smurfed in that particular time and with that particular culture," Tapper answered. "You see, handmaids were slaves to their masters and mistresses and thus had no rights and no freedom over their own bodies, which meant if a married couple who owned one were unable to conceive children, then they could smurf a handmaid as a surrogate so they could conceive a child through her. That's also why there was polygamy among even the Almighty's own people, since they figure that at least one of the women in that marriage would be able to conceive a child." "But how would these husbands even smurf a child through these handmaids without making it look like they were smurfing adultery in the eyes of the Almighty?" Empath asked. "I'm afraid that I just don't have the answer to that question, my fellow Empath," Tapper answered. "If the Almighty intended for us to know the method of such intimate interactions, He would have had it smurfed in the Holy Scriptures through His servants." "I would imagine that it would smurf pretty weird to have the husband and the wife present together in some sort of ritual where the husband...tries to conceive the child with his handmaid," Smurfette suggested. "Your guess is only as good as mine, Smurfette," Tapper said. "Anyway, Sarah gave Abraham her handmaid Hagar because she at that time was unable to conceive, and though her husband was promised by the Almighty that he would have a son in his old age, He never specifically mentioned yet that it would be through Sarah and not anyone else. However, being that they were operating out of ignorance and unbelief in the power of the Almighty, Sarah saw no harm in giving her handmaid to be Abraham's wife at the time, but when Hagar did conceive, her mistress was smurfed as despised in her eyes, and Sarah got so upset that she drove Hagar out of their house. However, the Almighty had Hagar return to smurf birth to the child, who became Ishmael, but years later when Abraham's other son Isaac was born, Hagar and her child were both driven out again, this time for good, as Sarah would not allow Hagar and her child to share in the inheritance of Sarah and Abraham's own child." "So that explains why Sarah gave Abraham her handmaid," Empath said. "But what about Jacob's wives Leah and Rachel?" "Rachel was the beloved of Jacob's two wives and was the one he wanted to marry at the first, but her father, his uncle Laban, refused to give Jacob his younger daughter before the elder daughter and through subtlety substituted Leah in Rachel's place," Tapper said. "When Laban ended up smurfing his daughter Rachel to Jacob, and Leah saw that she was unloved by her husband, God allowed her to conceive children, but prevented Rachel from doing so. When Rachel saw that her sister was bearing four sons to Jacob instead of herself, she got envious and cried out unto her husband, 'Give me sons, or else I shall die.' Her husband answered that he was not in God's place to smurf her from conceiving, so Rachel gave Jacob her handmaid Bilhah to smurf up children for herself, and through Bilhah Jacob smurfed two sons. Then when Leah stopped having children, she smurfed her own handmaid Zilpah to Jacob, and through Zilpah Jacob had smurfed two more sons." "I'm not sure I would want to be in the handmaid's place to be the mother of some other Smurfette's children if there were other Smurfettes in the village," Smurfette said. "I doubt that would be what Bilhah and Zilpah would have wanted either, Smurfette," Tapper said. "Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world, and at that time when the Messiah had not yet come to redeem man from sin, a woman not bearing a son, let alone any child at all, was smurfed as a reproach and an outcast. That was the hope and 'the desire of women' that Israel was waiting for, and that wouldn't come until years later when a young virgin named Mary would conceive Jesus Christ of Nazareth through the power of the Holy Spirit." "But in her case, she was willing to be used as the Lord's handmaid, knowing that this would be the Messiah's coming through her," Empath said. "Indeed it was, my friend," Tapper said. "Who knows what would have happened if Mary had refused that unique honor that she smurfed of herself 'from henceforth all generations shall count me blessed'?" "Well, even if it's going to smurf a while before we have our first child together, I would rather not smurf myself a handmaid to be my surrogate to smurf a child in my place," Smurfette said. "And this smurf would feel rather uncomfortable about smurfing myself with a surrogate to be the mother of my child with Smurfette," Empath added. "We can thank the Almighty that there is only one adult Smurfette present among us that we do not need to smurf a surrogate mother for Smurfette," Tapper said. "Nevertheless, I will still continue to pray for you, that the Almighty shall open the womb and allow you to smurf your first child together, whenever that may happen." Note * This story is basically a response to the issue of religious surrogate motherhood brought up in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale novel. Category:Empath the Luckiest Smurf stories Category:Mini-stories Category:VicGeorge2K9's articles